Popular Posts

DISCLAIMER: I am a Mom and not a doctor or hair professional. The information and comments on this blog are stories of my journey and are not to be used as a diagnosis or treatment plan in any way. If you have a medical, hair, food allergy, or body concern, please consult your own doctor. My site is not for treatment or guidance of any food allergies. You must verify all recipe ingredients for your own allergies and seek your own doctor's care. Thank you.

I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to ibelieveinjoy.com

Cupcake Wars Party

My older kids love to watch Cupcake Wars and help me in the kitchen inventing new recipes for my food column “Snacking with Joy” in San Diego Family Magazine. So it was no surprise to me that when I asked my girls what type of birthday party they wanted it was a unanimous “CUPCAKE WARS PARTY!!!”

We had to brainstorm a little bit on logistics, and soon we had a great plan. Ours included a pool party for the kids after their cupcake war, since the weather in San Diego is just too nice to pass up. Do your kids love baking or love eating cupcakes? Do they love cupcake wars? If so, here is how you can easily do a Cupcake Wars Birthday Party!

First, we made the invitation list and then divided the RSVP list into 3 teams of 5 kids each. A Pink Team, Blue Team, and Green Team. We purchased matching bowls for each team.
Then decide on what team cupcake flavors you want. We chose three flavors, one for each team: watermelon, birthday cake sprinkles, and carrot cupcakes. ** We baked a dozen of each flavor cupcakes the night before and set them aside ** This way, I could be sure the cupcakes to eat would be delicious, and you can also adjust the recipe for healthy options like using applesauce or making gluten free etc. But the ingredients the kids used, could be lower cost regular box mix because they cost $1.00 each, and the kids would have so much fun thinking they were making the party cupcakes that they ate. Pretty sneaky huh?!

Then we gathered our supplies for each team to do their cupcake war baking and set them out at 3 separate work areas. Each team table had their color bowl, spoons, measuring cups, a cupcake pan & cupcake wrappers as well as their baking supplies: the box mix poured into a bowl, 2 eggs, oil, water (** These ingredients can be flexible – because, none of the kids knew it – but we did not eat the cupcakes they made. But that’s why it was so fun! They could do EVERYTHING themselves! No grown ups helped them measure, there were no recipes, every choice was up to their team!) …

… and then the SECRET INGREDIENT was announced!

I told the kids that every team had to use the secret ingredient whatever way they wanted inside the cupcake batter. I assigned the teams their secret ingredient based on the cupcake flavor I had already made for them (Tricky huh?!). I set the timer and revealed the secret ingredients …

Each team raced up and grabbed their secret ingredient and they got to work baking!! It WAS SO FUN to watch all the kids measure, mix, pour, and do it all alone – with no grown ups telling them what to do. THEY WERE HAVING A BLAST! Once they finished their batter and poured it into their pan, they raised their hands, and my kitchen staff (a babysitter 😉 took the pan inside to the oven (she put them in the sink) and ten minutes later, brought out a cooked tray of cupcakes I had set aside. The kids did not even notice the time because while the cupcakes were baking, the kids had to build their own cupcake DISPLAY PLATFORMS!

I set out a blanket with various sizes of wood, a box of nails, a few hammers, some washable paint pre-measured onto plates, and various sized paintbrushes. ** Home Depot has a wood discount rack by the saw cutter in back. I got all this wood for FREE and cut to different sizes for me for FREE The nails were $3 and the rest of the supplies I already had! THE KIDS LOVED THIS PART!!!

Once their display was built, they rushed back to decorate their cupcakes. I set out a new bowl of decorating supplies on each table and they got to work.

Once each team finished decorating they had to display their cupcakes on their platforms and as they did I counted down just like the show ….. 3 .. 2… 1.. hands off the cupcakes!!!!! The kids all cheered and they were SO EXCITED!!!!

As the judge I sampled each team’s cupcake, then announced the winner. I had a winner for each category.

Team Pink (Watermelon Cupcakes) Won for Creative Decorating and Flavor.

Team Green (Carrot Cake Cupcakes) won for Best use of Secret Ingredient (carrots) and texture of cupcakes.

Team Blue (Birthday Cake Sprinkle Cupcakes) won for Best Overall Cupcake Display for this 2 layer platform they built on their own.

SO, That’s how we spent our birthday weekend for our girls. It was a great Cupcake Wars Themed Birthday Party … for our two bakers.

Here are some of my favorite items you can purchase to do the same party at your house. (affiliate links)

Thanks for celebrating with us!! What fun birthday party ideas do you have this summer? I love hearing your ideas for family, food, and FUN! ~ Joy